This invention relates to a railroad safety system for use at an intersection of a roadway and a railroad track, that comprises a voice alarm that is operably connected to either an existing intersection signal/gate system to warn that a train is approaching the intersection or an object sensor located proximate the intersection sensing that vehicles or pedestrians are at or near the intersection. The voice alarm is actuated to warn those individuals immediate to the railroad crossing intersection of an existing safety hazzard.
There are two main problems at Railroad crossings: 1) people get trapped on the tracks by traffic, or have too long a vehicle and are unaware their back end is on the tracks, and 2) they drive onto tracks thinking no train is coming.
One solution to first problem is trying to keep traffic control lights as far away as possible from any Railroad crossing so when the traffic is backed up, that it does not reach the Railroad crossing. Another solution is trying to "time" gates with traffic control lights, so traffic moves freely before the train arrives. These solutions are sometimes impossible and have become more and more difficult to implement in urban areas because increased traffic and urban sprawl with more streets and building have created a situation where there is not enough driveway area to allow for cars to be temporarily placed out of harms way between a Railroad crossing and a traffic light. There is so much traffic, that no "storage" area is enough and timed lights don't help with grid lock at rush hours in most large towns and cities. Consequently, cars get trapped on the tracks more and more often.
The solutions to the second problem has varied around the world, but in the US they mainly consists of a 2 quadrant gate coming down 30 seconds before the train arrives, while at the same time the train is blowing the horn 1,000 feet before the intersection. The train horn blowing has caused "noise pollution" keeping adjacent homeowners awake at night with incessant train horns. It has also prevented many vehicles from driving around the gates trying to "beat the train". The loud whistle is an effective deterrent.
To eliminate the need for a train horn, a 4 quadrant gate system has been installed, which has worked well. But, it is expensive, costing over $100,000 per railroad intersection, which is more than most towns can afford. Consequently, only a few of these 4 quadrant gates have been installed. While the railroad safety system of this invention can readily be adapted for the 4 quadrant gate system, it preferred use is with the 2 quadrant system.
In general, this new extensible arm segment may be composed of existing, mature technology that is being adapted for use with railroad crossings. The new gate system itself can be adapted to high speed rail without any modification other than the "swap out" replacement of the old gate arm with the new extensible gate arm.
Train horns are supposed to sound at 1,000 feet before all Railroad crossings by Federal regulation. This regulation began in 1991 and it has caused a fire storm of political controversy because millions of homes all across the US are being annoyed to no end by these horns. Millions of people are screaming to their mayors, governors, etc. By regulation, these horns are so loud that a motorist can hear them with the windows rolled up and the radio blasting away. So, home owners are awoken at night and normal conversations are interrupted sometimes 30 to 50 times a day. So, people are up in arms.
A wayside horn is a known technology and has been tested and sold since about 1995. It was invented about 5-10 years ago. It has been used to try to substitute for real train horns in an effort to make less noise pollution in towns. One of the drawbacks to the wayside horn is that when the gates go down and the wayside horn is activated, it can be that the horn is on too long and then motorists learn that no train is coming for 30 seconds (30 seconds is the regulated time between gates going down and the arrival of a train) and so they learn they can drive around the gates even if the wayside horn is sounding. In other words, the train is not sounding its horn just before it arrives.
The townspeople effected by noise pollution want this wayside horn badly because it reduces noise pollution by 90% and it is a cheap alternative to closing the alternative to closing the intersection or putting up a 4 quadrant gate. But the concern of the FAR (Federal Railroad Administration) is that if Railroad crossing safety is compromised, like the Florida ban, then the wayside horn should not be used as a substitute.
Historically, gates are used to stop vehicular traffic at Railroad crossings. The most common gate is a 2 quadrant gate. However, it fails to work when either a long vehicle unknowingly has their back end sticking out on the tracks or a car gets blocked on the tracks by vehicles stopped in front.
In the long vehicle case, the driver can only be informed by voice alarm what to do. That is, "pull forward", or a comparable voice command. In the blocked vehicle case, the forward drivers can only be warned that they are blocking traffic behind them.
The bells at the gate and train horn do not warn these drivers because these sound at all Railroad crossings. The gates do not help because they are behind the driver(s). So, the drivers in these two types of cases (long vehicle drivers, and drivers in front of vehicles blocked on the tracks) remain ignorant of the danger. Of the 400 deaths each year at Railroad crossings, many are caused by this ignorance. With the proper warning, these accidents could be prevented.
These deaths occur mostly because 1) they are impatient and try to drive around the gates or 2) for some reason they just stop on the tracks. The current invention handles these two scenarios.
1) Impatient Driver Scenario. Railroad gates swing down about 20 seconds before a train comes by. To prevent an impatient motorist from trying to drive around Railroad gates, either within this 20 seconds or just after a train passes and encountering a second train, I proposed that a motor driven extensible arm be extended across the opposite lane a couple seconds after the gate swings down. This few second delay allows traffic in the opposite direction to clear the tracks and not get trapped between the gates. Thus, the extended arm, with attendant strobe lights, physically prevents impatient drivers going around the gates.
2) Stopped on Tracks Scenario. For motorists stuck or stopped on the tracks, the proximity detector (i.e. car sensor) detects their presence and immediately retracts the arm while issuing very loud voice instructions to get off the tracks. This clear and continuous stream of commanding instructions are enunciated to get the person off the tracks who might be sitting there because they are a) blocked by forward traffic; b) frozen in fear by all the commotion and therefore need the command instructions, or c) they are a long vehicle like a school bus, and do not realize the train while is actually meant for them, because their back end is handing over the tracks.
To alleviate this problem, and others which will become apparent from the disclosure which follows, the present invention conveniently uses a voice command to free up congested traffic at a railroad crossing, to reduce noise pollution with a wayside horn and voice command alarm is proposed in place of the train horn.
The system's preferred operation is as follows. When the gate arm swings down to approximately 5 degrees of horizontal, a mercury switch is activated and 2-3 seconds later an extensible arm segment is extended across the entire opposite lane of traffic, preventing vehicles from driving around the gates. Additionally, strobe lights imbedded in the extensible arm segment begin flashing toward any possible intruders. If a vehicle or person has not cleared the tracks after the extensible arm segments have come down and the 2 seconds interval has passed, then gate arm sensors ("car sensors") detect this obstruction and issue a loud voice command to "get off the tracks" through a public address ("PA") system equipped with a digital playback device. When the obstruction has cleared the tracks, the extensible arm segment is extended and remains that way until another intruder is detected or the gate is raised. When the gate is raised, the extensible arm segment is quickly retracted by spring action, allowing the gate to be raised while the extensible arm segment is in a fully retracted position. This new, inexpensive extensible arm segment may easily be retrofitted to any existing 2 quadrant gate to create a "sealed corridor" for safe high-speed train service. And, with the car sensor detection and a voice alarm system it can alert the blocking driver or the driver of a long vehicle that the rear of his vehicle is on the tracks and prevent tragedies like Fox River Grove, Ill., bus accident.
The retrofitted gate arm is about the same weight as a regular gate arm and is constructed of a higher grade aluminum and other light weight materials that partially compensate for the extra weight added by the full length extensible arm segment, drive motor, PA system and various electronic parts.
A mercury switch, or its equivalent, is activated when gate arm is approximately 5 degrees of the fully down position. The gate extension mechanism should preferably operate in this position (0 to 5 degrees). After the gate is down and arm segment is extended, the extensible arm segment will retract automatically only when gate is raised higher than approximately 5 degrees or it is actuated by the sensor. In case of failure, spring loaded arm segment will retract automatically. Raising gate 5 degrees by hand, will also cause the arm to retract.
After gate is down and a predetermined time interval (preferably 2 seconds) has passed, the extensible arm segment will extend to expose the vehicle detection sensor. If an obstruction is detected, the extension discontinues and the PA system announces in loud voice commands to clear the tracks. This is particularly important to drivers of long vehicles that are unaware the back end of the vehicle is on the Railroad tracks or drivers of vehicles unknowingly obstructing traffic behind them. While these drivers can easily ignore a train horn, because all crossing require train horns, they can not ignore a PA system warning that his truck is still on the tracks or that he or someone is obstructing other vehicles from clearing the tracks. With proper warning, people can save their own lives and aware drivers can save the lives of others.
If no obstructions are detected, the extensible arm segment is fully extended into opposite traffic lane with strobes flashing on one side and the vehicle sensor activated and "looking" for trapped vehicles or pedestrians on the other side. Detection of any obstructions will activate the PA system and quickly retract the extensible arm segment (by spring action) to allow a trapped vehicle to escape. If no vehicle is detected for a predetermined period of time (preferably 15 seconds), the sensor will deactivate allowing the train(s) to pass without activating the vehicle detection sensor. The extensible arm segment will remain extended until after the train(s) pass and the gate is raised.
This new gate system will allow high-speed passenger rail service providers to quickly and inexpensively upgrade their 2 quadrant gate crossings to fully guarded gate systems, making each crossing far safer regardless of train speed.
This is a very versatile system because we can observe how it operates and then modify the voice alarm with specific commands to fit the situations that arise and provide improved voice messages as experience dictates.
In any case, it is the hope and belief of the applicant that this gate will be made applicable at all 2 quadrant gate railroad crossings where it will save lives because it guards where now there is only a warning and it warns where now there is only ignorance.